CAREERKNOWLEDGE
Knowledge Is Power = Job Search Success
CareerKnowledge.Net is brought to you by Wendy Enelow, CPRW,
JCTC, CCM
(President of the Career
Masters Institute) and Wayne Gonyea (President of
Gonyea Career Marketing and ResumeXPRESS.com).
Vol. 1, Issue 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A
GUIDE TO THE FOUR REALMS OF BUSINESS WEAR
1. Tailored,
conservative realm (suits). This type of dress is most
appropriate for positions in finance, banking, investment,
law, real estate, hospitality, insurance, politics and corporate
management.
2. Corporate
casual realm (khaki pants, polo shorts, sweaters and slacks).
This type of dress is most appropriate for positions in
mid-management, administration, education, health care,
technology and journalism.
3. Hip,
creative realm (high-fashioned, trendy attire). This
type of dress is most appropriate for positions in publishing,
advertising, graphic arts, media, music, fashion and some
retail operations.
4. No-code
realm (uniforms and/or outdoor wear). This type of dress
is most appropriate for positions in food service, construction,
trades, transportation and other related professions.
SALARY
SURVEY & INFORMATION WEBSITES
Administrative
& Office Salaries - stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos002.htm
America's Career InfoNet - www.acinet.org/acinet.occ_seal1.htm
American Compensation Association - www.acaonline.org
Bureau of Labor Statistics - stats.bls.gov/ocohome.htm
Compensation Link - www.compensationlink.com
Economic Research Institute - www.erieri.com
JobSmart - jobsmart.org/tools/salary/index.htm
Monster.com - midcareer.monster.com/experts/negotiation
WageWeb - www.wageweb.com
Wall Street Journal - careers.wsj.com/?content=CWC-salariesindex.htm
Working Woman - www.workingwoman.com/salary
Salaries - Computer Professions - yahoo.com/computers/employment/salary_information
Salaries - Consultants - www.cob.ohio-state.edu/~fin/jobs/mco/salary.htm
Salaries - Engineering Professions - fairway.ecn.purdue.edu/ESCAPE/stats/salaries.html
Salaries - Media Professions - www.missouri.edu/~jourvs/
Salaries - Medical Professions - www.pohly.com/salary/html
Salaries - Technology Professions - www.psrinc.com/salary.htm
NOTE:
For information about these specific sites, use any of the
search engines to find the website to research the information
you want.
WORDS,
WORDS & MORE WORDS
How
many times have you used the word "reorganized" when writing
resumes, cover letters and other job search communications?
Why not try a few of these next time ... Revitalized - Changed-Managed
- Restructured Modernized - Reengineered - Rebuilt Retooled
- Upgraded - Recreated Enhanced - Revised - Optimized Rejuvenated
- Streamlined - Redesigned Turned Around - Improved - Rightsized
Repositioned - Restored - Jump-Started
DIRECT
MAIL CAMPAIGNS
Do direct
mail campaigns really work? YES - if targeted to the right
audience. For example, if you're a sales professional in
the healthcare industry seeking a higher-level sales position
within the same industry, target your direct mail to recruiters
specializing in sales (profession) in health care (industry)
and to companies in the health care and related industries.
In essence, direct mail works best when you stay in "your
neck of the woods." Use email as the distribution method
for recruiters. They prefer it. Use paper and snail mail
as the distribution method to companies. It's more upscale.
NUMBERS
SELL
Look
at the difference in impact between these two statements:
Statement #1: Improved manufacturing productivity and reduced
costs.
Statement #2: Improved production output by 24%, reduced
operating costs 12% and contributed to an overall improvement
in the company's net profit of more than 18%.
Which
of the two is more powerful? Using numbers and percentages
makes a huge difference in the impact of achievements. Although
not always possible, it is highly recommended that you quantify
whenever you can when writing resumes, cover letters and
other job search marketing materials.
Vol. 1, Issue 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10
STEPS TO WIN IN JOB SEARCH
1. Job
Search is sales. You have a commodity to sell - YOURSELF.
Be sure to package and present it as professionally as you
would any other product you were selling. Remember, you've
got lots of competition, so be sure to highlight your product's
outstanding features, benefits and performance.
2. Job
Search has a defined process. There is a beginning (assessment
and planning), a middle (implementation, job search and
interviewing) and an end (negotiations and final offer).
It is a natural progression through which every job seeker
must pass. Each stage is essential to success.
3. Know
"who" you are. Any effective job search begins with a clear
analysis of "who" you are - your most distinguishing qualifications
and characteristics. What do you enjoy? What do you dislike?
From what activities have you achieved the most satisfaction?
Develop a clear picture of the "professional you" as a baseline
to guide your career planning and job search.
4. Define
your objectives and determine "how" you want to be perceived.
Your resume must communicate an immediate message of who
you are. This may be different than Item #3 above. This
"who you are" relates to how you want to be perceived, and
links directly to your current objectives. For example,
if you're a customer service representative seeking a sales
position, you'll highlight your skills in customer relationship
management, product presentation, negotiations and the like.
However, if you're that same customer service representative
interested in a management career, you'll highlight your
skills in training, team building, personnel supervision,
budgeting and related management functions.
5. Write
a performance-based resume. Success sells. It's that simple.
The most powerful and effective resumes are those that highlight
success, results and achievements. They don't over-inflate
them; they are clearly and succinctly highlighted.
6. Never
underestimate the value of your cover letter. Here are the
stats: 33% of all recipients NEVER read cover letters; 33%
of all recipients glance at the cover letter after they've
read the resume; and the remaining 33% ALWAYS read the cover
letter first. Your letter must immediately communicate your
value to an organization for you never know which 33% will
receive it.
7. Key
words are essential. Although you do not want your resume
to be a "laundry list" of key words, you do want to be sure
that you have integrated them within the text of both your
resume and your cover letter. Many companies and recruiters
utilize information technology tools to review incoming
resumes. If your resume does not contain the "right" language
and key words, you'll never get past the gatekeeper.
8. Job
Search is multi-channel marketing. For any product to sell,
it must be merchandised through the appropriate marketing
channels. In job search, those channels include targeted
direct mail and email campaigns, Internet resume and job
postings, job lead reports, networking, advertisements and
more. How you design your individualized marketing strategy
depends entirely on your career objectives (e.g., type of
position, type of company, size of company, geographic preference).
9. Leverage
the Internet to your advantage. There are two ways you can
use the Internet in your job search. Option 1 is to search
for job postings, an extremely viable strategy for many
job seekers (especially those in the technology industries).
For other professionals, and for most senior-level executives,
searching the Internet for jobs is not a good use of your
time. The other option is to post your resume on the Internet
for review by companies and recruiters. THIS is a great
strategy for everyone!
10.
Interview to win. The interview is the final stage in the
sales process. You're there to present the product, negotiate
the deal and close the sale. It's that simple yet, as we
all know, very competitive and complex. It is critical to
research as much about the company, its products, services
and operations as you can. This allows you to focus your
answers on their critical issues. Know that you've already
passed the first test (the phone screening or initial resume
review) and approach each interview with confidence and
strength.
COMPANY
RESEARCH & INFORMATION WEBSITES
www.comfind.com
- AllBusiness.com - www.bigbook.com - BigBook Electronic
Yellow Pages www.555-1212.com - Business Directory www.uschamber.com/mall/states.htm
- Chambers of Commerce http://www.dowjones.com - Dow Jones
www.edgar-online.com - Edgar OnLine people.edgar-online.com/people
- Executive Information www.fortune.com/fortune/fortune500
- Fortune 500 Companies www.vault.com/vstore/lists/companylist.cfm
- Global B2B Communications www.hoovers.com - Hoover's Business
Directory http://home.sprintmail.com/~debflanagan/index.html
- Industry Information www.intellifact.com/company_research.htm
- Intellifact.com www.experiencenetwork.com/newsite/comp_center/index.html
- New World of Work www.infousa.com - Small Business Information
www.corptech.com/index.cfm - Technology Companies
NOTE:
For information about specific companies, use any of the
search engines to find the company's website. These sites
provide information about each company, its products, services,
history, culture and employment opportunities.
THOUGHT
FOR THE WEEK
If we
could shrink the Earth's population to 100 people, with
all existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look
like this: There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from
the Western Hemisphere (North and South) and 8 Africans.
50% of the entire world's wealth would be in the hands of
only 6 people and all 6 would be citizens of the United
States. 51 would be female; 49 would be male. 70 would be
non-white; 30 white. 70 would be non-Christian; 30 Christian.
80 would live in sub-standard housing. 70 would be unable
to read. 50 would suffer from malnutrition. Only 1 would
have a college education. No one would own a computer. We
are all so very fortunate to be well-educated and well-cared
for. Lest we never forget that!
Vol.
1, Issue 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5
STRATEGIES FOR INTERVIEW SUCCESS
1. Sell
it to me ... don't tell it to me. Interviewing is sales
and you're the commodity. Instead of just listing the features
of the product (YOU), sell the benefits. The presentation
is so much more powerful and to the point. It will get you
noticed and not passed over. Look at the differences between
these two sentences: "Tell" Sentence: "I've been responsible
for sales, team leadership and revenue performance." "Sell"
Sentence: "As Regional Sales Manager, I led a team of 8
sales associates to record performance with a better than
25% increase in revenues and a 32% improvement in market
share ratings." See the difference?
2.
Transition every negative to a positive. Rather than
blurting out a quick "No" in response to an interview question,
take a minute to think about how you can more favorably
position your answer. Suppose, for example, the interviewer
asked if you knew how to use Excel and you did not. How
about this: "I have worked with spreadsheet programs for
years and am most familiar with Lotus, so I'm sure getting
a handle on Excel won't take any time at all." You were
honest, weren't you? Yet, you were positive, not negative.
3. Use
the "big to little" strategy. Putting structure into
your interview style will make the process easier, more
manageable and more effective. Begin your answers with a
"BIG" response - an overall statement of your qualifications
as they relate to the question at hand. Then, follow-up
with your "LITTLE" response - specific achievements, projects
and responsibilities that demonstrate your performance.
For example: BIG: "Throughout the past 12 years, I have
been directly responsible for managing several large retail
operations. This has included direct P&L responsibility
for each operation along with all sales, merchandising,
human resource, logistics and facilities operations." LITTLE:
* "During my tenure in my current position, I have increased
sales by better than 140%, improved our market rating from
#3 to #1, virtually eliminated employee theft and improved
bottom-line profits by 158%. * Previously, during my tenure
with Sears, I won six consecutive sales production awards
for attaining over 100% of quota each year.
4. Remain
in the realm of reality. Interviewing is selling and
it's okay to "push" just a bit. However, NEVER allow yourself
to say anything that you could possibly end up having to
defend. If you're placed in that situation, you will inevitably
lose and the opportunity will vanish.
5. You've
already passed interview #1. If you are sitting face-to-face
in an interview, be confident that you have already passed
the preliminary interview and review of your skills, qualifications
and experience. If you had not, then you would not be sitting
there. Feel confident and feel powerful ... they're already
interested in you. Now, try to close the sale!
THOUGHT
FOR THE WEEK
Life is about personal development, self-satisfaction and
pride in our performance. It is about feeling a sense of
achievement in how we live our personal lives and how we
manage our professional careers. It is about accomplishing
the goals we have set for ourselves, not those others have
set for us. It is about being proud of who we are and what
we give back - to our colleagues, our friends, our family
and our community.
Vol.
1, Issue 5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5
KEY OBJECTIVES WHEN YOU'RE WRITING A COVER LETTER
1. Introduce
yourself and clearly define "who you are - a welder,
teacher,
sales manager, aerospace engineering, accountant, business
manager,
purchasing agent, security guard, historian or CEO.
2. Highlight
your most notable qualifications - experience, educational
credentials, accomplishments, career successes, honors,
awards and
credentials.
3. Identify
the value you bring to that organization - what you can
and will
do for them.
4. Capture
your reader's interest in you, your resume and your availability.
5. Motivate
your reader to call and offer you the opportunity for a
person-to-person or telephone interview.
WINNING STRATEGIES
FOR NETWORKING
Follow
this outline and you will optimize your ability to network
and your
success. It is recommended that you either use index cards,
a 3-ring binder
or a PC-based contact management program so that you can
efficiently manage
your networking process.
1. Make
a list of ALL of your network contacts. Think long and hard
as you
do this to be sure that your list includes EVERYONE that
could be of any
potential use in your job search. You list will include
a combination of the
following: current and past co-workers and supervisors/managers,
business
colleagues and associates, neighbors, members of professional
and civic
associations to which you belong, attorneys, accountants
and CPAs, financial
advisors, media contacts, vendors, industry leaders with
whom you may have
had some previous contact, authors who you may know, relatives,
and anyone
else you can think of who may know of an opportunity or
know someone that
knows of an opportunity.
2. Collect
all the information you can on each contact - the correct
spelling
of their name, company name, home and work address, home
and work phone
number, fax number and email.
3. Prioritize
in your list into 3-4 groups: Group 1 - Individuals with
whom
you have a close personal or professional relationship;
Group 2 - Individuals
with whom you have a solid acquaintance; Group 3 - individuals
who you've
only ever met once or twice; Group 4 - individuals who you
do not know.
4. Call
all of those individuals in Group 1. It is assumed that
you have a
good working relationship and know these individuals quite
well. Tell them
that you're in the job market and ask if they have any ideas,
recommendations
or contacts they could pass along. Then follow-up with a
quick thank you
note and a copy of your resume.
5. Write
a letter for each of the remaining groups on your list.
Obviously,
the tone, style and content of each letter will vary based
on your
relationships with those individuals or that group of people.
Then, mail or
email the letter with a copy of your resume.
6. Make
a tickler system, get a calendar or use the appointment
book on your
PC so that you 2-3 weeks after EACH contact you follow up
with a telephone
call. Do this for all of your groups.
7. When
you contact each individual, ask if they received your letter
and
resume, and if they have any ideas, opportunities or recommendations.
If so,
pursue them aggressively. If not, ask that person for the
names of 2-3 other
individuals who can be of assistance with your search.
8. Repeat
the same process with the next set of contacts.
9. Be
sure to document EVERYTHING. As your job search expands,
the amount of
information you must maintain and act upon will increase
daily. If you do
not write it down you will get lost in the process and important
follow-ups
could be missed.
FIND YOUR NEXT JOB ON THE INTERNET
There
are now hundreds of websites that post current job openings
submitted
by both companies and recruiters. Here are a few that you
might want to
check out if you happen to be looking for a position in
one of the referenced
industries:
Advertising
Careers
www.adweek.com
Engineering
Careers
www.engineeringjobs.com
www.ieee.org/jobs.html
Entry-Level
Careers
www.collegegrad.com
www.gradseek.com
www.campuscareercenter.com
www.jobtrak.com
www.aftercollege.com
Environmental
Careers
www.ecojobs.com
www.empty.net
Fashion
Careers
www.fashioncareercenter.com
Finance
Careers
www.financeseek.com
www.careerbank.com
www.cfonet.com
Food
Service Careers
www.escoffier.com
www.foodservice.com
www.chefsatwork.com
www.pastrywiz.com
www.culinary.com
www.webfoodpros.com
Government
Careers
www.fedjobs.com
www.careersingovernment.com
www.getagovjob.com
Health
Care Careers
www.healthjobsite.com
www.HealthLeaders.com
www.medhunters.com
Human
Resource Careers
www.hrjobs.com
www.jobs4hr.com
www.shrm.org
International
Careers
www.latpro.com
www.overseasjobs.com
www.escapeartist.com
www.internationaljobs.com
www.mediainfo.com
www.hoovers.com
Legal
Careers
www.finelaw.com
www.greedyassociates.com
www.emplawyer.net
Quality
Engineering Careers
www.quality.org
www.asq.com
Retail
Careers
www.retailseek.com
www.retailjobnet.com
Technology
Careers
www.ceweekly.com
www.dice.com
www.GeekSeek.com
www.atb.org
www.computerjobs.com
www.techies.com
www.jobserve.com
www.passportaccess.com
www.careershop.com
www.ntes.com
www.taps.com
www.computerwork.com
www.selectjobs.com
www.it.jobsearch.org
www.brainbuzz.com
www.computerworld.com
CareerKnowledge
is a FREE publication by Wayne Gonyea (ResumeXPRESS) and
Wendy Enelow (Career Masters Institute).
Job Openings
